It's my birthday today and I felt compelled to blog. The picture below was posted by a lovely member of the Eclectus group I am part of. Huge gratitude today!
The full spectrum light arrived. Yahoo! Set up and have it going for 2.5 hours in the morning right now through the winter. I will increase the time in the spring and summer to 4 hours each day. The first day he wasn't so sure about the light and now seems to bask in it. I look forward to seeing in time what positive effects it has on him. Additionally come spring hopefully time outside under complete natural light will aid in his over all good health and beautiful feathering.
I'm pretty impressed lately with the flow of things. We've become increasingly busy in our home life and schedule with my girls activities and he's adjusting fine. Outside of his cage he's much more laid back. Inside his cage he's keeping busy with his toys, puzzles and watching everything around him. I think I may need to consider some new puzzles as he's getting faster and faster at figuring them out to get his reward.
Viggo's fluid transition and adjustment has made us consider a travel cage and possibly taking him along with us this spring and summer camping. I'm not sure if we will as the thought of campfire smoke among other things scares me. It's a consideration though and that is all in part because of his ability to adjust so well.
I may make a new chop here soon to add variation. It's been a lot of red around here lately for both of us eating beets and the only real twist I've put into his daily food is weaving Swiss Chard through the bars or putting in half a pepper or a kiwi for him to destroy. I've learned that anything big or uncut immediately gets tossed from the dish. Viggo will then eat what he wants in his dish quick and scale the side of his cage to get to the bottom and massacre the whole food. I always find it amusing watching him.
I have introduced him to the harness. We went for a black harness. He seemed quite interested when I laid it out beside him. He twisted and turned and lowered his head and gave it a bit of beaking...Picking it up I put my fingers through the harness and then my hand and pulled it off to show him it was ok and I was ok. As I did so I Ooooo'd and Awe'd. This made him more curious so I decided to see if I could slip the largest part of the harness over his neck. I did so with complete success. He sat and allowed me to remove it as well with no digits of my own lost in the process. I praised him greatly and again slipped it on and off a few times. We have yet to fully put it on but baby steps. Gaining his trust and ensuring that he is comfortable is priority! I'd hate to scare him or make it a terrible thing for either of us. I have a goal here that I know he will love so the tip toeing to the end will pay off.
I had absolutely no intention of even approaching the harness for a while still however with his positive ways lately and seemingly back to himself and the Viggo I enjoy I thought I would at least show him. I was delighted to make it so far so soon.
This is just a little update as I do not have a lot else to report. All is going well. No posts of frustration or hormonal insanity. *knock on wood* We're still slowly moving along with the clicker training and targeting, but I think Viggo is playing me...or the slivered almonds are not the treat of choice.
I believe he is going through a light molt as well. I'm finding quite a few of the grey downy feathers around his cage and his neck is looking a little rough and patchy. A good molt wouldn't hurt him. He's never really had one.
All has been well though and progress & positive updates are always a necessary in everyday life.
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